Even without complete continuity on defense, Pete Kwiatkowski ready for Texas’ 2024 season

Asked on Tuesday about the goals for the Texas offense this coming season, Kyle Flood had a quick response.

“We want to be the most explosive offense in the country,” Texas’ offensive coordinator said.

Now Flood was participating in a media availability on the UT campus, not an open mic night inside a karaoke lounge. But those 11 words should still be music to the ears of Texas fans.

Last season, Texas gained 477.5 yards and scored 35.8 points per game. Among 130 qualified Football Bowl Subdivision-level teams, those numbers respectively ranked No. 9 and No. 15 nationally. So more of the same — or a slightly improved product — would bode well for a team coming off its first appearance in the College Football Playoff.

Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski speaks to the media during a press conference ahead of last season’s Sugar Bowl. On Monday, he along with UT offensive coordinator Kyle Flood and special teams coordinator Jeff Banks met with local media likely for the last time until December bowl season.

Coaches are refamiliarizing themselves

But what about the defense? Longhorns defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski also met with the local media Tuesday. And like Flood, he had some goals to share, too.

This offseason, Kwiatkowski said the Longhorns really wanted to get better at block destruction among all positions and creating turnovers with an emphasis on forcing fumbles. Kwiatkowski said a study showed that Texas had a tackling success rate of 80% in 2023, but he’d like to improve that by five percentage points.

Last year, Texas ranked among college football’s best teams in scoring defense, rushing defense and red zone defense. And only 33 teams allowed fewer yards than the Longhorns, who yielded 336.7 per game.

But during the offseason, Texas lost defensive standouts Byron Murphy II and T’Vondre Sweat to…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/even-without-complete-continuity-defense-212139405.html

Author : Austin American-Statesman

Publish date : 2024-07-30 21:21:39

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